google search

Your guide to Google Now on iOS

On Monday Google released an update to the Google Search app for all iOS users that added one major feature: Google Now. Until this release, Google Now was only available on Android devices, although there have been some indications that the service will eventually show up in Chrome. But this is likely the first time iOS users have seen the service, so you might be wondering what it does and how it works. Well, let's take a look.

Get Google Now on iOS On Android, Google Now is more or less a standalone app, but on iOS, Google had … Read more

Google Now widget comes to search app for Android 4.1

Rumors that Google Now would come to the core search app for Android were true: An update to the Google Search app today brings Google's popular predictive search technology to users' home and lock screens.

To use the feature, your phone must have Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) or above. Now it tries to anticipate users' queries by automatically showing weather, sports scores, calendar appointments, and other information without the user having to search for them. 

Other features in the updated app, per the changelog:

Movie passes from Fandango Movies now include ratings from Rotten Tomatoes … Read more

M&M's, Beyonce top Google searches on Super Bowl Sunday

Super Bowl fans took to the Internet yesterday to search for both people and products highlighted during the big game.

Sponsor M&M was the top search item on Google as it tried to woo people with its "Love Ballad" commercial. Singer Beyonce, who performed during the halftime show, took second place.

The teams actually competing in the game were next, with the Baltimore Ravens No. 3 and the San Francisco 49ers No. 4. And 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick rounded out the top five list.

Other searches that popped up on Google's radar included the half-hour … Read more

Vringo subsidiary sues Microsoft over search patents

A subsidiary of intellectual-property firm Vringo is suing Microsoft for allegedly infringing two of its patents, Vringo said today.

Wholly owned subsidiary firm I/P Engine filed the suit in the Southern District of New York.

I/P Engine is seeking a judgment from the court declaring that Microsoft did infringe its patents and requests the court to award past and future damages through royalties and "any form of recoverable economic injury."

The two patents relate to U.S. Patent No. 6,314,420 and U.S. Patent No. 6,775,664, which detail essentially the foundation framework … Read more

Microsoft's latest search share plan? Focus on mobile apps

"Applications, rather than the browser, are now the predominant windows to the world's information."

That's a claim in a recent Microsoft Online Services Division job post. But it's also the thinking of some inside the Microsoft Bing search team.

As I have blogged previously, Microsoft's AppEx (Application Experiences) team of a couple of hundred developers is the unit that built a handful of applications that have shipped as part of Windows 8 and Windows RT.

But how and why did it fall to the Bing team to create these programs?

"A lot of … Read more

Google tweaks image search to make porn harder to find

Search for porn using Google Image Search today and you might not find much.

The company rolled out a change to its image search algorithm overnight that makes it tougher to stumble across adult pictures, whether or not you're searching for them.

Here's how a Google representative explains the change:

"We are not censoring any adult content, and want to show users exactly what they are looking for -- but we aim not to show sexually-explicit results unless a user is specifically searching for them. We use algorithms to select the most relevant results for a given … Read more

Google Zeitgeist 2012: Whitney, Gangnam, iPad 3 and more

The death of Whitney Houston in February led to Google's top search for 2012.

Looking at the world's most popular searches for the year, Google's Zeitgeist 2012 uncovered a variety of people, events, and even a couple of tech products.

In second place behind Houston was music video phenom Gangnam Style. Hurricane Sandy took third place, followed by the iPad 3, Diablo 3, Kate Middleton, the 2012 Olympics, Amanda Todd, Michael Clarke Duncan, and BBB12.

The list also drilled down to the top searches among specific categories, including people, movies, TV shows, and consumer electronics.

The iPad … Read more

Add Twitter results back to Google search in Chrome

Quite some time ago, Twitter discontinued the ability to see tweets when you did a search through Google. The tweets were actually useful, because you could see who was talking about whatever you searched for, as well as gather additional information.

If you want to add the Twitter results back to Google search, you can do so with a simple extension. Just install a copy of HashPlug for your Chrome Web browser.

This extension will add the Twitter results into a small column to the right of your search results. The column updates with live tweets, but if you … Read more

Google beefs up Knowledge Graph with Bacon number

There are few things in life that can't be improved by adding Bacon.

Google search results are the latest to learn this lesson. Queries containing an actor's name and "Bacon number" will show users the precise number of degrees between said actor and Kevin Bacon.

Playing with the new feature today, we found numbers for Leonardo DiCaprio (2), Humphrey Bogart (3) and Steve Jobs (2).

The Bacon number is a fun Easter egg -- and a highly useful tool for settling arguments at the pub. But it also represents Google's "Knowledge Graph" flexing its muscle.… Read more